Chloe Widmar

Chloe arrived at our home Nov. 1, and by Jan. 1 she was very much at home. Her temperament is so sweet it's easy to forget she is still a pup (70 lbs and just 10 months old). There is no doubting she is an Airedale.

The ghosts of Airedale Christmas' Past in our home must have encouraged her to countersurf on Christmas Day to nibble a hole in the side of the traditional coffee cake. The boys before her always believed it to be the best food on earth. The puppy-faced slippers Mom got for Christmas are actually not Chloe toys. She won't accept that and attacks my feet--but with such ever so gentle picks, that it was several days before I realized she had cleared the face off the left slipper, and hadn't done any damage at all to the right.

We have a new hedge trimmer--Chloe kicked up a head of steam and came screaming across the yard at full speed, bearing down on a small boxwood and blowing it in half. She's very bright, and selectively deaf or clueless--my, aren't dogs fun. It nearly got her a job at UPS this week.

We went to the central UPS office to intercept a delivery and she was very nicely sitting and waiting as asked while I loaded the box into the car--but not quite long enough. Out of the car and toward the automatic doors she ran. The children, the UPS staff and customers, squealed with delight, as she made her way from one to the next, "Hi! How are you? Well, hello! I'm Chloe, who are you?" As a proper Airedale owner, I had to handle it just so, "Chloe, come! Chloe! You saw the sign on the door said 'No Pets, Sorry!' so we have to go!" By then she had made the rounds, everyone was happy and she pranced out at my side.

Chloe has filled a very large emotional gap in our house. We say to her big brothers (over the Rainbow Bridge) they would be proud. Chloe is a good dog.

Many thanks to Steph and the entire ATRA team.Susie and Nick Widmar--and Chloe

Should you have any comments on/or criticisms of this story or desire to contact its author, feel free to email conniecam@worldnet.att.net. We always appreciate hearing from both uprights and downrights. Thanks for reading!